A number of events have had me thinking, recently. Thinking about one of the things that makes RinkWorks stand out. Thinking about the community.

Technically, this is just a website. There is no physical difference between RinkWorks and any other place with a forum and a chat room. None that would affect the community, anyway. Yet, thanks to the forum's early years, the community has grown to be something very special indeed. Just look at the early posts. You may have even been there for them. Intelligent discussions. Not single-line posts of people shouting "NEKO NEKO WAI" and leaving three pages of signature. It became a place to really communicate with each other. You can see it right from the start.

Skipping on a bit, RinkChat opened. Now the people that had known of each other for all of this time could really get to know each other. Chat was a place where you could use single line posts. But it was also filled with the people that had been having these intelligent (and a little mad) discussions on the Forum. So Chat was born, and lo, it was good.

Since then, the community has grown pretty much of its own accord. From your first browse through the forum or your first visit to chat, you could feel the sense of a close-knit community. One where, unlike the rest of the internet, people were honest. No one was hiding behind aliases, pretending to be something that they weren't. People that did act that way could see it, and either changed or moved on. So the Rink absorbed another soul; another person willing to be themselves and get to know others. It has been doing this for quite some time now, and has amassed quite a following. Yes, following. The frequenters of the site have had their opinions of the internet changed. Not many can truly say that they have found a place quite like RinkWorks. And as I said before, this trend is self-inducing. God knows how many people flit by, stopping only to sample the Computer Stupidities, but every now and then one of them sticks. And they do this because of what they see here. They want to become part of it, and that increases the size and attraction of the community. People who don't want to stay, don't. People who wish to stay anonymous do so, and end up leaving.

We've made friends here. Some we may consider to be among our closest. We've got a good thing here, and I am proud to be considered a part of it, as is everyone else, I am sure. Except maybe Stephen. Normally, this sort of thing would end with a "GO SAM!" or similar, but I don't think that's fully correct. Sure, Sam created and maintains RinkWorks, keeping it fresh and clean of those nasty bits, but everyone else who has ever posted in the forum or spent a night in chat has contributed to what you see, and I think that they deserve thanks too. Except maybe Stephen.

This post may be deleted. It doesn't really say anything that people don't know already, and I doubt it will promote discussion. But it's late, and I'm tired, and I had an urge to write it. As long as one person reads it, its job is done.

Mat"Stephen's already going to kill me, so this won't hurt"thew